Curfew

I.     Solemnly, mournfully,         Dealing its dole,     The Curfew Bell         Is beginning to toll.     Cover the embers,         And put out the light;     Toil comes with the morning,         And rest with the night.     Dark grow the windows,         And quenched is the fire;     Sound fades into silence,--         All footsteps retire.     No voice in the chambers,         No sound in the hall!     Sleep and oblivion         Reign over all!     II.     The book is completed,         And closed, like the day;     And the hand that has written it         Lays it away.     Dim grow its fancies;         Forgotten they lie;     Like coals in the ashes,         They darken and die.     Song sinks into silence,         The story is told,     The windows are darkened,         The hearth-stone is cold.     Darker and darker         The black shadows fall;     Sleep and oblivion         Reign over all.